


Here Comes the Sun

by groove_key



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Angst, Grief/Mourning, High School, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mutual Pining, Neighbors, Slow Burn, Theatre, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28053708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groove_key/pseuds/groove_key
Summary: “Well, practice is three days a week immediately following school. You’re going to have to find someone else to give you a ride. I mean I can still give you a ride to fencing if you stick around school long enough for rehearsal to end.”Felix sighed, feeling a headache coming on. He didn’t happen to have ibuprofen in his bag, did he? No he probably didn’t. Maybe Ingrid did.“Don’t be so glum! There is a second, far more exciting option if you don’t want to find a ride home with anyone else,” Sylvain said.Felix turned to him with a deadpan stare.“Please, do share."Sylvain shifted so he was leaning into the space between them. “You could join the drama club with me!”***Felix and Sylvain have been next door neighbors for as long as Felix can remember. It's their last year of high school, and Felix wants to get through the year as quickly as possible. Sylvain wants to sign up for the school musical.  Now that Felix is without a ride three days out of the week, he has no choice but to join the backstage crew.(High School/Neighbors AU)
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	1. Something Good Can Work

**Author's Note:**

> My outline is currently set at 19 chapters, but that is subject to change (especially considering the outline isn't 100% done). The rating will change as the fic progresses and certain themes are introduced. Almost everyone in this fic is 17/18. I hope you enjoy the first chapter! Title of this chapter is taken from something good can work by two door cinema club :)  
> -groove-key 12/13/2020
> 
> p.s: Horsebow Moon = September

Horsebow Moon 

“Why?”

It came out as a muffled grunt of disapproval. Felix’s arm rested on the door of the passenger’s side, head tucked into his shoulder. He could feel the chill from the window through the thin sleeves of his sweatshirt. It was six-fifty am on a Tuesday morning, and although the sun had risen, it was hidden by a never-ending stretch of clouds that promised a drizzle. Despite it only being mid Horsebow Moon, Faerghus had decided to send her cooler temperatures their way.

“Why not? You and Ingrid are always calling me a drama queen, might as well put my talent for the theatrics to good use.” 

Felix sat up and turned to look at Sylvain in the driver seat. Sylvain looked at him with a smirk, something mischievous playing behind his eyes. The light of the advertisement board promoting Starbucks's new Pumpkin Spice latte glowed brightly behind him. Seems like they had changed it to get a head start on fall flavors. Sylvain always ordered an medium iced coffee nearly every morning, but sometimes he got a pumpkin spice when it was in season.

“Just sounds like you’re going to use it to get girls. Besides, I didn’t know you could sing.”

“I am a man of many talents,” Sylvain said with a flirtatious tone. Felix grabbed the book sitting on top of his backpack and whacked Sylvain with it. 

“I’m assuming you're telling me this because. . .” Felix trailed off.

The car in front of them pulled up, and Sylvain took his focus off of Felix to move up in line.

“Well, practice is three days a week immediately following school. You’re going to have to find someone else to give you a ride. I mean I can still give you a ride to fencing if you stick around school long enough for rehearsal to end.”

Felix sighed, feeling a headache coming on. He didn’t happen to have ibuprofen in his bag, did he? No he probably didn’t. Maybe Ingrid did.

“Don’t be so glum! There is a second, far more exciting option if you don’t want to find a ride home with anyone else,” Sylvain said. 

Felix turned to him with a deadpan stare.

“Please, do share.”

Sylvain shifted so he was leaning into the space between them. “You could join the drama club with me!” He said. Felix barked out a laugh.

“Me? In a play? Yea, no thanks.”

“No no really think about it! It ends just in time for you to make it to fencing and you might as well do something big. I mean, senior year and all.”

The car ahead of them finishes ordering and drives up, and Sylvain pulls up next to the ordering box. Felix leans back and closes his eyes, trying to block out the brightly glowing menu and the chill that slithers in when Sylvain rolls down his window. He orders a medium iced coffee (with milk and sugar), and because of the feminine voice from the other side, tosses in a pick up line as well. The worker giggles and reads him his total and tells him his order will be ready at the next window. Felix waits a beat before speaking.

“Just because it’s our last year doesn’t mean I’m obliged to do anything.”

“Yeah well you should! Go out with a bang, leave your mark on Fhirdiad High, all that stuff.” 

“The sooner I get out the better.”

“Aw Felix, stop being emo.”

Sylvain drives up to the order window, handing the young worker his card with a wink. She blushes, and stammers out that his order will be ready in a bit before handing back his card. She scurries off to the kitchen.

The two of them sit in silence, J. Cole’s ‘Middle Child’ pumping softly from the car’s speakers. It was Sylvain’s turn on the aux cord this morning and Felix appreciated Sylvain’s music taste (for the most part; there was a time and place for Brittany Spears as much as Sylvain argued otherwise). 

“What about backstage?”

“What about it?” Felix asks.

“Well it seems like more your scene than singing. Plus you wouldn’t have to do as much work and we could still ride together to and from school,” Sylvain said with a smile.

Felix furrowed his brow. He really wanted to avoid getting involved in anything extra. Even though the school year had only just started, he didn’t care enough to start anything when he was just going to leave in less than a year and never come back; it would be a waste of time. He wanted to avoid any unnecessary goodbyes, only the goddess knew if he was even going to be in Fhirdiad come this time next year (he hoped he wouldn't).

The window opened again and the worker handed Sylvain his drink with a chipper “Have a nice day!” Sylvain flashed a winning smile and a “thanks” at her in response before setting the iced coffee down in the cupholder, the ice rattling against the cup as he drove out of the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. 

Felix noticed something scribbled in sharpie on the side of the cup, and a smiley face. Probably her number, poor thing.

“I think,” Felix stated slowly, “I’ll do backstage only, ONLY, if it’s my last option.”

Sylvain beamed at him. “Dude I think you’re going to love backstage.”

* * *

A quarter of an hour later Sylvain turned into the Fhirdiad High senior parking lot at the bottom of the hill. The large main building of Fhirdiad Public High School loomed above them. Although some might describe the former campus of the prestigious Garreg Mach University as ‘historic’ and ‘grandiose’, Felix thought it was just . . . okay. They had added a few buildings to accommodate the amount of students in recent years, which looked a lot more like prisons.

Felix grabbed his worn Jansport backpack as Sylvain grabbed his own bag out of the backseat. A girl yelled his name from across the parking lot, waving at him. Sylvain waved in return.

“Gonna go say hi?” asked Felix, although there was no contempt in his voice.

“Nah, I think I have a class with her later. Government or Faerghus Lit, I can’t remember which one.”

“Faerghus Lit. I don’t recognize her from fourth period. You’re horrible by the way, you got the Starbucks girl’s number too.” 

Sylvain turned the cup to read the message. “Huh, I did.” His expression was thoughtful for a second before transforming into an exaggerated smirk. “I guess I really am irresistible.”

Felix gave a very, very exaggerated eye roll.

Sylvain takes a sip of his iced coffee. “Seteth reminded everyone yesterday that we weren’t allowed food in his class but he was looking at me the entire time. I mean for goddess’s sake it’s seven in the morning, if a man needs a honeybun to survive math let him have his damn honeybun.”

Felix shakes his head. “How can you even eat those things so early? It’s not even a good breakfast food.”

Sylvain shrugs. “Anything is a breakfast food if you eat it before lunch time. Anyway, I'll see you at lunch.” 

The path split and they went their separate ways. Felix headed up to the third floor of the main building for Fodlan Literature, and Sylvain headed to the right for Calculus.

Felix opens the door to his Literature class, and slides into his seat next to Ingrid. She looks up from her book with a tired “Morning Felix.” Felix grunts a greeting. He should ask if she has that ibuprofen; the feeling of an oncoming headache hadn’t quite disappeared. 

Before he could, Mr. Alois had stood up and begun his lecture on the passages they read last night. He was way too enthusiastic for seven a.m., and Felix could sense his mind was beginning to wander. He needed to create a list of people he could ask for rides.

His first potential option would be Dimitri, since he had the car. He wondered if Dimitri's student council duties would get in the way. Was he busy after school? Felix assumed he would be, knowing how intense Fhirdiad High’s student council was, but he didn’t know for sure.

His second option would be Ingrid. Ingrid took the bus home, and sometimes she drove her father’s car. He didn’t know the bus system very well, but maybe he could ask her and see if there was a route close to his house. Scratch that, make Ingrid his first potential option, he’d much rather take the bus with her than Dimitri (no offense to Dimitri, Ingrid’s presence was just far more preferable).

It was going to be a pain to ask for a ride. He liked riding with Sylvain, it’s what they had been doing for years. Before Sylvain got his license, Glenn would drive the both of them to middle school on his way to high school; walking in and out of school with Sylvain was a very much established routine. Even when Glenn started going to Garreg Mach, he still gave a ride to the two of them until Sylvain got his licence a year and a half ago.

This whole situation was going to be a headache. The thought of having to ask Ingrid or even Dimitri (hopefully Ingrid could, the less people he had to ask for help, the better). Worst case scenario he could call Glenn, but he didn’t know Glenn’s college schedule off the top of his head.

“Does the bus route happen to go by Northeast Heights?” Felix asked Ingrid after Mr. Alois finished his lecture with a list of pages for reading homework. Ingrid pondered for a moment, before answering.

“I don’t think so. My route goes in the opposite direction, although I think there is one on that side of town. It might not bring you directly to the entrance, but there’s probably a bus stop nearby. Why do you ask?”

Felix folded his arms. “Sylvain is thinking of joining the drama club, I’m going to need to have backup options for a ride on rehearsal days.”

“You know, if you just had your license you wouldn’t be in this situation.” Ingrid said with a “i-told-you-so” tone. “But drama club huh? Can’t necessarily say I’m surprised. Aren’t they doing a musical in the spring?”

Felix shrugged. “Beats me. Isn’t Dorthea in the theatre?”

“Yea but she hasn’t mentioned too much, only that auditions are going to be coming up at the end of next week. I think she’s aiming for the lead, although I forgot what musical they’re doing this year.” 

“She’s got a nice voice,” Felix says. He’s only heard her sing on occasion, but even he knows she’s insanely talented.

Ingrid hums in agreement. “But back to the bus route, I’m pretty sure our neighborhoods are equidistant from here, and it usually takes me forty-five minutes to an hour to get back home, you might be better off finding a club until Sylvain gets out.”

“Sylvain brought that up too,” Felix said with a sigh. “Suggested that I should join the drama club, of all things.” 

Ingrid, snorted, and failed to suppress a laugh. “Ok no offense but imagining you singing in face paint and a frilly costume would be quite a sight.” 

“He also suggested doing backstage.” Felix said as he started putting his book and papers back into his bag.

Ingrid cocked her head thoughtfully. “That seems like a doable option. I know someone in Psychology who’s in backstage and from what she’s told me it’s not super difficult. She seems to have a lot of fun with it.” 

Felix nodded as the bell signaling the start of the second period rang. 

“We can talk about it more at lunch, I’m sure Dimitri knows lots of clubs that run during theatre," Ingrid says as she slings her backpack over her shoulder.

“Mhm sounds good. See you Ingrid.” 

Ingrid waves as they walked down opposite ends of the hall. Felix sighs as he pops in his earbuds on the way to Chemistry.

* * *

“Well, I have trash duty on Thursday followed by Math Honor Society tutoring, and that usually doesn’t end till around five or six o’clock. On Mondays I meet with the different committees in student government, and Fridays I have to meet with my college admissions tutor. Wednesdays I plan meetings and events for the Scholar Honor Society. Speaking of which you should apply for SHS! Your grades certainly are above our requirement and my tutor says it looks great on an application!.”

Felix’s eye twitched. “No thanks I’m good,” he said before turning around in his seat to face the board with an inward groan. So that was a bust. Mr. Hanneman was rattling on about entropy but Felix was barely paying attention, his notebook still closed on his desk. 

This was one of the very few moments in Felix’s life where he wished he had more friends. He enjoyed the peacefulness that came with a small friend group (although with Sylvain, was it ever really peaceful?). Of course Felix knew people, he didn’t like being rude to people who didn’t deserve it. He and Lysithea from Statistics got along pretty well, and he liked pairing up with her for group work. Ferdinand from Fodlan Government always asked for his notes, but was an okay guy at the end of the day. Mercedes from Art History is truly an angel if he was being honest.

But these were all people he interacted with exclusively within the confines of the school. He didn’t know where they lived, or what their hobbies are. Calling them friends would be quite a stretch. Hell he didn’t even have a job so he couldn’t even give them gas money.

Once Hanneman’s lecture ended, Felix was putting his notebook back in his bag when he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“There isn’t anything wrong between you and Sylvain is there?” Dimitri asked hesitantly. 

“No. Why?” 

“Uhm well, why would you need a ride, exactly?” Dimitri was really trying his best not to come off as nosey.

“Oh, that. He’s joining a drama club so I’ll need someone else to take me home. Been asking around. “ Felix knew Dimitri was going to apologize.

“I’m sorry I’m not more available.” Dimitri said. Right on the money.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

He should’ve asked Ingrid for some ibuprofen.

* * *

After a grueling Statistics class with Mr. Seteth, Felix headed to lunch. The clouds had mostly cleared away, the sun occasionally peaking through. It was just warm enough for Felix to push up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. Seteth always went up to the very last second of class, so when Felix emerged from the building, students were already settled outside, enjoying their lunch. He passed by them, heading to a picnic table near the edge of campus.

Sylvain, Dimitri and Ingrid were already seated. Felix tossed his bag on the bench and took his seat across from the two blonds.

“Hey Felix you’re here! Good to see you survived Seteth today.” Sylvain said cheerfully.

“Just barely,” Felix replied.

Sylvain crunched loudly on a dorito. “As I was saying I wanted to tell you guys something. Well, Felix you already know but--” 

“Is this about the theatre,” Ingrid interrupted. She took a sip from her juice box. “Cause I already know.”

“I know about it as well! It’s great that you’re getting involved in the performing arts.” Dimitri adds. Give it to Dimitri to get excited about his friend’s involvement in school activities.

“Yea!” Sylvain says, then his expression morphs into one of confusion. “How did you guys know?”

Ingrid and Dimitri both glance over at Felix who stops chewing to swallow. “Told them about it,” he said.

“Felix! You spoiled my surprise!”

“Not to rain on your parade Sylvain, but it’s not super surprising news. If anything, I’m surprised you didn’t join sooner.” Ingrid says. 

“Well better late than never I guess,” Sylvain says, then he looks at Felix. “By the way, did you give any thought to backstage?”

Felix could see the fireworks going off in Dimitri's head from excitement. “Felix, you didn’t mention you were thinking of joining the performing arts!” Even Ingrid’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly in curiosity.

“It’s not a ‘performing art’.” Felix grumbled, shooting a glare at Sylvain, who hid his grin behind his Doritos bag. He knew this would happen, bastard. Dimitri was already going off about how great the technical theatre club was, but Felix was barely paying attention. 

Glenn was his last option. Might as well give it a chance. The conversation had already shifted and Felix could hear the names of various clubs being tossed around. He took his phone out of his back pocket and opened up the message with Glenn.

Glenn

Hey, are you busy in the afternoons? (12:09)

“Listen man, I respect whatever it is you do in your student council club but who picked the movie for the movie night? Full offense who the hell picked Shark Tale?” Felix heard Sylvain say.

“I agree, I think it’s an odd choice but Claude was insistent on it and Edelgard was too busy working on homecoming to really care. Sometimes you have to pick your battles.” 

Ingrid nodded in agreement. “I still remember watching that with you all and Glenn,” she pauses. “and the Bee Movie.”

Sylvain nearly explodes. “I remember! Honestly that whole experience felt like some sort of dream like seriously what the fuck was that movie. There was bestiality, and lawsuits?”

Felix remembers that day very vaguely. Back when they all used to live on the same street, they would all go over to someone’s house and watch a few movies. Ingrid and Dimitri both had a pretty expansive collection of DVDs, and the majority of their time was spent over what movie to watch that day. Ingrid was very obsessed with Spirit and argued often with Sylvain, who found it super duper boring. Glenn had solved the problem (because of course he had) by making a schedule so they were all happy. The end result was a pretty decent knowledge of 2000s animated movies and a very thorough knowledge of the 2002 animated horse movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

Felix felt his phone vibrate, interrupting his train of thought.

Glenn

(12:12) everyday cept friday. what’s up

No reason. (12:12) ✓✓

So that was a bust. He really was hoping it wasn’t going to come to this but the goddess was not on his side today. 

“What do you mean we have a quiz next period?” Ingrid shouted, snapping Felix out of it.

“I’m pretty sure that’s what Catherine said,“ Dimitri said as he flipped through the pages of his planner. He showed the page to her. 

Sylvain laughed as Ingrid’s eyes widened.

“This isn’t funny!” she said in a pitched voice and squeezed her empty juice box to it’s second death. “Felix, tell him how serious it is!” 

Felix shrugged. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”

Ingrid’s face began to gain back some color. “Felix Hugo Fraldarius just because you can get away with perfect grades with no studying doesn’t mean the rest of us can!”

“Don’t stress over it, hasn’t your senioritis kicked in at all?” Sylvain said once he regained his composure.

“Just because it’s our last year is no excuse to slack off,” Ingrid said as she flipped her braid over her shoulder.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine Ingrid, we’re only covering the first two sections of chapter three.” Dimitri reassured her. Sylvain had calmed down as well, although Ingrid was giving him a lengthy glare. She still pulled out her notes and started reading them over.

“Does anyone happen to have ibuprofen?” Felix asked. Ingrid reached into her bag and passed him some. “Thanks.”

He swallowed it dry. He’s really doing this. Felix tries to think back to when he was younger, trying his best to remember his past self's warped perception of high school. If he had told nine year old Felix, he probably would’ve been super excited. If he had told twelve year old Felix, that Felix would’ve kicked him in the shins. Theatre was never something he ever thought about really, and he didn’t know crap about the behind the scenes. This really, really wasn’t a good idea, but what other choice did he have?

It wasn’t long before the bell rang (forty minutes wasn’t nearly enough time for lunch). Felix poked Sylvain, giving him a knowing look. Dimitri and Ingrid had already packed their things and started walking towards fourth period, chattering about whatever over achievers talk about.

Sylvain nudged his arm. “What’s up? He asked.

Felix took a slow breath.

“You are going to tell me where to sign up for backstage and we are not going to mention this unless it’s strictly necessary.”

Felix knows that Sylvain is not going to shut up about this.


	2. My House of Stone, Your Ivy Grows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to finish this chapter five days ago but life happened so. . yea here we are. This chapter is 5.5k words so I hope that makes up for it! There is a tik tok video and a song that are referenced, if for some reason the links don't work I'll paste them here. I highly recommend listening to the song as you read during that part. :)
> 
> chapter name is from ivy by taylor swift (I've been listening to the evermore album non stop while writing)
> 
> Enjoy!  
> -groove_key  
> 12/30/2020
> 
> Tik Tok Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@calebrownn/video/6897762418198416646?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6911907539233015302&is_from_webapp=v1
> 
> Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juvwlEO-x2o

Felix lunges forward, aiming his sabre at his opponent. She steps back, parrying, then aims for him with her sword, but leaving herself open. Felix brings his foot back before leaping forward to jab at her torso, leaving a dash of red chalk. It took less than two seconds.

“Pause, Petra can you come her,” Jeralt said from behind the camera, gesturing for her to step off the mat. She takes off her helmet, shaking out her purple braid. Felix takes his helmet off as well, the hair slipping out of his messy bun. He wipes the sweat pouring down his face as Jeralt speaks quietly to Petra, pointing to things on the camera viewfinder. 

Felix is breathing heavily, the three hours of practice taking a toll on his body. Despite that, his mind is clear and he feels incredibly tranquil. Fencing had turned out to be incredibly therapeutic in recent years.

Fhirdiad Fencing Center was almost empty at this time at night. Yuri, who Felix had spoken to a handful of times, was dueling on the other side of the building. His opponent was a woman Felix had never seen before, and he could barely see her features beneath her mask. Leonie, a girl with fiery red hair who was somewhere in between acquaintance and friend was packing up her things, ready to head home. 

“Alright Felix let’s wrap up for the night,” Jeralt said as Petra started putting away her sword. “Good job today, your reflexes are getting faster, once we refine them your opponent won’t be able to see you coming.”

“Thanks, those techniques you recommended really helped.” 

“That’s good to hear. I wanted to let you know about this before you left.” Jeralt pulled a green piece of paper from his pocket and passed it to his student. “We’re going to be hosting Nationals in December, the Faerghus Fencing Association just confirmed it a day ago. You did great in the Cadet group last year, so I think you should be placed in the Junior group. I have full confidence in your ability to hold your own against nineteen year olds.”

Felix opened the paper to see a printout of an email from the FFA with details. “I probably could’ve done Juniors last year too.” He had swept the competition, and the medal was sitting somewhere in his house. Maybe in the living room? The feeling of victory was more important than a piece of commemorative junk.

Jeralt sighed. “Remember there’s going to be fencers from all over Faerghus, and I’ve heard that the Western Faerghus team has been especially strong this year. It’s also a great place to get some experience if you decide you want to be on the National Team. You’re planning on going to college after graduation, right?”

Felix stuffed the paper in his back pocket. “That’s the plan so far. I’ll be submitting my application in a few weeks.”

Jeralt rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Thought so. Have you given any more thought to going pro?” 

Felix had given it some thought, although said thought hadn’t given him any answers. There were pros and cons to it, and Felix honestly didn’t know if the risk was worth the reward. 

“I still don’t know. I’ll be applying for college no matter what my decision.”

Jeralt nodded. “Smart choice. That’s what Byleth did, although she eventually dropped fencing to focus on the research. She’s here tonight though, Yuri needed a partner.”

So that’s who the stranger was. She and Felix never formally met although he did know a bit about her. She was a graduate student at Garreg Mach studying medieval history. History wasn’t Felix’s thing, but he’s sure Sylvain would have appreciated what she does.

“You don’t have to decide now, just keep your options open. Good job again today, I’ll see you on Thursday.”

Felix nodded and walked over to the lockers underneath the Faerghus flag. Leonie was waiting by the door, and walked to meet him. 

“Did you hear about the tournament? I’m so excited, I can’t wait to make Jeralt proud.” She said, leaning against the lockers with her bag slung over her shoulder.

“Yeah, Jeralt just gave me the rundown. I’m going to be in the junior group this year. ” Felix said as he opened his locker and began unstrapping his gear. 

“Oh shoot I forget you’re seventeen now. Well I’m not going to go easy on you I hope you know.”

“I would be insulted if you didn’t.”

“Also you’ll be going up against Yuri, he’s a tough one especially during competitions. I’m so glad that Petra transferred here, the Brigid technique is really interesting. I asked Jeralt if I should try studying it some and he didn’t seem opposed to the idea. It’s quite different, they have a completely different stance-- ,”

She rattled on as he finished putting away his gear and swords into his bag, pulling out his phone from one of the side pockets. He toed off his fencing shoes in favor of some slides, and made sure everything was in place before zipping it shut.

“Yea I don’t know too much about the Brigid stance until I started fencing with her.” He said, just to let her know he was paying attention.

Their relationship was really just a space for Leonie to gush or vent about the technicalities of fencing to someone who would understand, which Felix didn’t entirely mind. He wasn’t a talkative person, and a better listener than most people. They had known each other for years, both being long term regulars. They were rarely in the same division for competitions as Leonie is two years his senior, but she was a tough opponent nonetheless.

His phone buzzed in his hand.

Glenn 

(8:34) outside

“Is your brother here? I’ll walk out with you,” Leonie asked, leaning over to take a peek at his lockscreen. There wasn’t much to see, just the text notification from Glenn and one of those abstract preloaded phone backgrounds.

Giving one last farewell to Coach Jeralt, the two left the building and parted ways with a wave from Leonie and a 'goodbye' from Felix. The sun had disappeared hours ago and holy fucking faerghus was it cold. He really should’ve brought literally any other pair of his shoes; his toes felt like they were going to fall off.

He walked towards the old seventies style car that Glenn was obsessed with. Glenn had told him the make and model a million times but Felix could never remember it. He tossed his duffel in the backseat, immediately being assaulted by some somber acoustic folk artist. Glenn was leaning on the wheel, his hair tied up in a small ponytail, and scrolling through Instagram. Felix got into the front seat and turned up the heat. 

“You would not believe how cold it is out there,” He said.

“I’ve lived here long enough to know its cold as balls,” Glenn said, putting down his phone and driving out of the parking lot. “The damn defroster is barely working, I had to wipe condensation off my side mirrors. By the way dad’s not home yet and I’m lazy, does Molinaro’s sound ok?”

“Yeah, sounds fine.” 

“How was practice?”

“Pretty good. Getting better with the sabre now. Jeralt’s been putting me through round after round. He told me there’s going to be a tournament during Ethereal Moon.”

“Ahh last tournament of the year. Is it the regional tournament?”

“Regional and National this year, apparently we were picked by the FFA.”

Glenn whistled. "Look at that, I'm sure Jeralt is over the moon at that news. Is he trying to get you to do professional tournaments?"

"Yea, he asked me a while back. I told him that I haven't decided yet," Felix said with a defeated sigh.

“Dimitri, Ingrid and Sylvain, they’re all applying to Garreg Mach next year right?”

“Yea, our applications are due in a little over a month.” His half finished college application is still sitting on his laptop, untouched in weeks.

“What about backups?”

“What do you mean?”

“College backups? I'm not doubting your abilities or anything, but Garreg Mach is, well, Garreg Mach.” Glenn said with an exasperated gesture.

Felix shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it. I haven’t heard the others talk about it either. I have some other schools on my list.” If you asked Felix what the names of those schools were, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. It was always Garreg Mach or bust. 

Glenn sighed. “Don’t think I’m saying this to be pessimistic, just something to think about. Do you remember Holst, my friend from high school?”

Felix scratched his brain. He did vaguely remember some of Glenn’s friends, although he didn’t interact with them much. Most times, they swung by to pick Glenn up to go somewhere and Felix didn’t even have to say hello. On days where they were at the Fraldarius household, Felix was with Sylvain, Ingrid, or Dimitri.

They were closer than most brothers, but Felix and Glenn’s friend group rarely overlapped.

“He was the big guy with the pink hair,” Glenn said.

An image resurfaced in Felix’s mind. “I think I remember him. Why do you ask?”

“The last I talked to him was high school graduation.”

There was a beat of silence. 

"Um, okay?" Felix said, confused.

"We hung out all the time, were in the same clubs, went to get food after school, yada yada yada. I considered him a best friend, but he went off to Leichester for school. I had his phone number, but neither of us bothered to text."

“I thought you guys were pretty close?”

“We were, but that’s sometimes how it is with people. Part of me wishes we were still in contact, but the other part of me knows that it’s just not what we’re good at. Some things in life just die quietly. Dimitri, Ingrid, Sylvain, those are good friends you got there, and you all have known each other since forever. What I'm trying to say is don't let them go so easily.” 

"Thanks for the reminder but I'm already very aware of that, thanks," Felix said coldly.

The car was silent. Glenn turned up the [ song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juvwlEO-x2o) playing through the aux. Felix leaned his head on the window, light from the evenly spaced street lamps rolling over the two of them. Glenn’s words had lodged itself in Felix’s mind, burrowing out a space to call its home.

Felix could barely remember meeting his friends for the first time. All he knew was that he was young, and his earliest memories were them riding bikes down the street, Ingrid at the front with her hot pink bicycle, no training wheels and no helmet. Her two braids were flying behind her in the wind.

Sylvain got as mad as an eight year old could get, because he was a grade above them so therefore he should be at the front of their bike group. Ingrid out pedaled him every time, and Sylvain had to accept that he would have to settle for second-fastest.

The days of summer were out of a fairy tale. The long, hot hours were spent with Sylvain, Ingrid and Dimitri. Sometimes Ingrid’s cousins would come to visit and their group of four became seven. It was days of nerf gun wars, bicycles, and waiting for the ice cream truck to come by, change weighing heavily in their pockets. 

They grew up, they went to school, and they would play less as the year carried on. Winter break would roll around and they would be dedicated to snowman building, who could make the best snow angel, and snowball fights. Sometimes, they would wait outside the Fraldarius’s garage, waiting for Glenn to take out the garbage to ambush him with their pile of snowballs. One time, Rodrigue had come out instead, and was hit in the face with a snowball by his own son. On realization, Sylvain had yelled ‘scatter’, and they had all split up, running as fast as they could. 

Felix had gotten a stern talking to that night, but Rodrigue had ruffled his hair before tucking him into bed and all was right with the world.

In middle school, Dimitri was adopted by his uncle. They were two young to fully understand what had happened and too inexperienced to know what to say. He moved out of Northeast Heights, and they were down to three. 

They still saw Dimitri at school, and made sure to play together during recess. Sometimes Dimitri got too angry while playing four square or kick ball, and would stalk off to sit by himself at the picnic tables. He always apologized before the end of the week. None of them ever held those outbursts against him.

At the end of Felix’s sixth grade year, Ingrid’s dad lost his business, and she had to move out of the neighborhood too. Felix still remembers helping her pack all her belongings in cardboard boxes and stacking them in her room. The light green walls had been painted over, the family photos taken down.

Ingrid had cried, which made Felix cry (much to his denial), and the day ended with a big group hug. Sylvain and Felix had watched the moving truck drive away. The summer wasn’t quite the same. Felix spent most of his time with Sylvain. Sylvain insisted they play outside except on the hottest of days, where they would play board games in Sylvain’s room with the door closed. 

Felix sometimes saw Sylvain’s older brother, Miklan, around, but they never spoke to each other. Sylvain never talked about him either.

And just like that, summer had passed and seventh grade had begun for Felix. Even though Sylvain was in the eighth grade, he still hung out with his three neighborhood friends. Felix and Sylvain were both delighted to see Ingrid and Dimitri after two months; it was like nothing in their friend group had changed. Dimitri’s new home apparently had a secret room you could enter through the pantry, and there were fields of horses behind Ingrid’s house. 

It was a year of baking soda volcano projects, trading cards, and the year Sylvain started to notice girls. Sometimes he would abandon them at recess to go hold hands with a girl under the tree. Felix didn’t care, as long as they had enough people to play kickball, he was fine. 

Sylvain was a constant in Felix’s life, and then suddenly he wasn’t. It was during winter break when the ambulance drove down their street. Felix ran outside when he saw a small boy, one of his best friends, being loaded into the back. Glenn had to pick him up so he wouldn't get in the paramedics' way.

Felix hadn’t seen Miklan after that.

Rodrigue had taken him inside and explained the situation. Felix had cried for days. It was a week before he could see Sylvain again. In such a short amount of times, the two boys had changed. Felix never cried after that, Sylvain was a little more guarded, yet their friendship remained unchanged.

At the end of the summer, all four of them entered and left eighth grade together. They went on the field trip to Enbarr, posted overly filtered photos on their new born Instagram accounts, and watched many unrealistic high school movies.

When high school started, Sylvain began dating around. He talked about taking girls to the football games, flirting with girls in biology, and who he should ask to homecoming. It bothered Felix, as much as he hated to admit it. He would go over to Sylvain’s window and see the curtains closed and the lights off, not turning on again until late into the night. 

Felix had only ever had Sylvain and Sylvain had the world.

He never spoke about it of course, it was Sylvain’s life. When those emotions reared its ugly head, Felix squashed them down to the deepest and ugliest parts of his soul. Just thinking about it sent a nauseating feeling through him, so he pushed it down and stared out the window.

Small suburban neighborhoods and local businesses gave way to glitzy shopping plazas and office buildings. Glenn pulled into a tight space outside a small brick restaurant, the sign reading Molinaro’s Duscar Food glowing in bright red.

The inside had the comforting atmosphere of any frequently visited local restaurant. Framed pages of newspapers and old photos hung all the walls next to awards (both old and new). There were a few patrons scattered, seated at tables for four with vinyl tablecloths. The menu was laminated with simple fonts and yellowed photographs, not that Glenn or Felix needed it. They went up to the counter, Glenn ordering the Gronder meat skewers and Felix ordering fried pheasant with a side of super spicy fish dhango.

They stepped back from the counter, Glenn muttering about needing a smoke and stepping outside. Felix turned his phone over and over in his hand and thought about what Glenn had said.

Fuck what if they all went their separate ways next year? What would Felix do? He was an introvert, but introverts still craved friendships and interaction. He didn’t really know how to make friends, that much was obvious. He didn't have to talk about the hardships of his life with his friends because they had been there with him through it. He hated being vulnerable, and they understood that. 

His phone vibrates, interrupting his train of thought..

Sylvain  


(8:47) [ tiktok.mp4](https://www.tiktok.com/@calebrownn/video/6897762418198416646?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6911907539233015302&is_from_webapp=v1)  
(8:47) Dorothea said this reminded her of me do you agree???  
(8:48) also come over when you get home

The tik tok was a man in a cowboy hat, shredded crop top and a bathrobe dancing to Rasputin. It would definitely seem like something Sylvain would do. Felix texted ‘yes’ and ‘omw’, allowing it to autocorrect to ‘on my way!’.

* * *

Northeast Heights was a pretty ordinary neighborhood. It had an ordinary sign with some small bushes around it. The houses were two stories and too close to each other, in varying shades of beige, yellow, green or grey. The lawns were small and consistently well kept, with the occasional gardener’s touch here and there.

Glenn pulled into the garage and killed the engine. Felix unlocked the back door while his brother carried the two bags of food. The lights were on, making the house feel more inviting. Glenn had set Felix’s food on the counter before collapsing on the couch and turning on the tv. Felix grabbed his bag and climbed the stairs to his bedroom, his muscles aching all the way there.

Closing the door behind him, he sets his bag of fencing gear next to his bed. He goes for a quick shower, letting the hot water soothe his tired body and wash away the sweat and grime of practice. After showering, he changes into a ratty grey sweatshirt, his comfiest sweatpants, and a pair of mismatched ankle socks, forgoing shoes. Felix has the experience to know that walking with slides just ended with one of his shoes on the ground.

He grabs the food, and cradles it in his arm as he opens the window and steps onto the roof. The roof of the garage is damp, and the cold water seeps through his socks as he scampers across to the other sides. He gingerly steps onto the small roof underneath Sylvain's window. What once had been a heart racing jump for a twelve year old was now a cautions large step. He pushed up the window pane, swatted aside the curtains, and climbed inside. Felix had toweled his hair off to the best of his ability, but in leaving it down the back of his sweatshirt was soaked.

The bright desk light showcased Sylvain’s pristine work space, papers and folders neatly organized around his open laptop. His bag was on his chair and his phone was plugged into the outlet near his bed. 

The door to Sylvain’s room was just shy of being closed, the thin gap allowing the loud voices from downstairs to echo into Sylvain’s room. Felix could hear the booming voice of Mr. Gautier, followed by the quick speaking of Mrs. Gautier. They were too far away to make out any distinct words, but it seemed like anytime Sylvain's voice entered the conversation, he was immediately cut off. 

Felix and Sylvain had known each other long enough that this wasn’t necessarily anything new. The Gautiers attempted to keep face when Felix was in the same room with them, but they were too comfortable with each other to postpone their arguments until after Felix had left the house.

He set the food on the nightstand, picked up the grey blanket on Sylvain’s bed, and slid underneath it. It was heavy, soft and warm, perfect for the upcoming months. Stretching out, his foot pushed Sylvain’s textbook and notes over the edge of his bed, which landed with a thump on the hardwood floor.

The voices downstairs cut off, before lowering to a murmur. Felix could hear Sylvain coming up the stairs and didn't even bother sitting up when Sylvain walked through the door. 

“Is that Molinaro’s?” Sylvain said, shutting the door behind him. 

“You can have the pheasant and eggs, let me keep the dhango.”

Sylvain grabbed the food from the night stand and sat next to Felix on the full sized mattress. He lay the meals on the bed and pulled out the plastic utensils. Felix sat up and pulled the plastic cover off of the dhango, stabbing the balls of fried dough. It warmed him up as it went down.

“So what were your parents yelling at now?” Felix asked.

Sylvain let out an sigh. “I went out with Daphne and they told me to be home at nine and I got home at nine-ten. God forbid I might’ve been murdered or kidnapped in the span of ten minutes.” 

Felix paused. “Daphne?”

“Oh she’s the girl from the parking lot. I asked her if she wanted to go out tonight and it was alright. It was a nice little fling although I don’t think she took it well when I said that.”

While flings to some people might’ve been summer romances or relationships that lasted a few weeks, flings to Sylvain were one or two dates (if the girl was lucky enough to get a second date). It had definitely helped boost the playboy aspect of his reputation at school.

“Well, what did you guys do?”

“Oh you know the usual. Picked her up, took her to dinner-- hey leave my food alone.”

“You fucker you already had dinner. I’m starving, give it back to me.” Felix said as he tried to tug the plate of pheasant away.

“But she wanted me to take her to this artsy vegan place and I had a salad because it was the only thing I recognized on the menu. I’m a growing man, I need my protein," Sylvain whined. 

Felix tugged the plate. “I don't care. Give it to me.”

Sylvain spit on the food and Felix immediately let go. “What the hell Sylvain?”

He just gave a little smile in reply as he continued eating. “Bet you won’t touch it now, huh?”

“Fuck you I bring you dinner and everything and this is how you repay me. Why are you the way that you are.”

Sylvain burst out laughing, almost choking on his food. Felix thumped him on his back so he could cough it back up.

They finished their meals and tossed the plates in the trashcan near Sylvain’s desk. Sylvain went into the adjoined bathroom to wash his face. Felix’s hair had mostly dried. He checked his wrist, no hair tie. 

“Hey do you have a spare hair tie?” Felix asked.

“Probably not, there might be one or two in my car. Leave your hair down, it looks nice.”

“It gets in my face.”

“Beauty is pain, darlin’” 

“Shut up.”

“You seem to complain about it all the time, why don’t you just cut it? I’ve got scissors in here somewhere we can just hack it off.”

“Absolutely not. It’s only annoying when it’s down. There's no other reason to cut it.”

Sylvain exited the bathroom and started rummaging around for something in his backpack. “I cut mine every time it gets too long in the back because it gets too annoying. I think I would rock long hair though. Not super long like yours, but like long and shaggy? Maybe I should look into having a mullet, I think the style is coming back.”

“I think some things were meant to stay in the past. Have you met any adults? They all complain about their hairstyles in the eighties.” Felix sighs and rubs his temples. “I might just go back, I’m tired.”

Sylvain looked up from his bag. “Don’t leave yet, I need to work on my college essay. I know your encouragement and a positive presence will help me finish it.”

“I don’t want to wait around to watch you cry on your keyboard.” Felix said as he lay down and curled up under the blankets. The dhango sat heavy in his stomach, and his muscles had been pleasantly relaxed by the shower. The blanket was warm and it was quiet outside.

Sylvain had picked up his laptop from his desk and got in on the other side of the bed, leaning against the headboard and stretching his legs out on top of the covers. 

“Listen I’ve been stuck on this paragraph for like three days now. I just need to sit down and write it. Sprinkle in a childhood story, tie it into an analogy for life, add a touch of emotion and I’m set. Even Ms. Shamir will be moved to tears.”

Sylvain’s voice was growing more faint and muddied. Felix grunts, shuffling himself deeper into the covers, slowly feeling his consciousness ebb away. He put up little resistance.

* * *

He awoke slowly, noticing that the light had been turned off and the clock on the table read 1:12 am in brightly glowing numbers. Felix shifted in the bed and sat up, turning around to look at Sylvain. Sylvain had shifted to curl up on the bed, although his laptop was still open and facing him, long since having been turned off. Felix closed the laptop and got up to put it back on the desk.  
Sylvain stirred when Felix sat the laptop down with a thud.

“Felix?” 

“Yea it’s me. Go to sleep.” 

Sylvain muttered something that was too incoherent for Felix to understand. He was completely relaxed, the tension in his face had melted away, leaving Felix to observe the faint freckles that painted his face. He seemed so at peace, and Felix didn’t want to look away.

“I’ll see you in the morning.” He said as he draped the blanket over Sylvain’s body. 

* * *

When Felix walks into the arts building the next morning, there are two purple sheets of paper hanging from the billboard halfway down the hallway. Pens hang next to them, barely holding on by that cheap masking tape that all schools seem to have an endless supply of. ‘Spring Musical Sign Up” and ‘Backstage Crew Signup’ are in big bolded letters at the top, followed by a page of lines that are half full with scribbled names. Students dawdle in the hallway, some sitting against the walls while others stand outside the classrooms, waiting for the first bell to ring.

Felix and Sylvain had gotten to school early, and a girl had waved down Sylvain in the parking lot. Sylvain didn’t look too happy, so Felix could only assume it was Daphne and did not envy his friend for the conversation that was to take place. Felix had voluntarily left Sylvain to hash it out with her. You reap what you sow, after all. 

He picked up one of the pens, writing his name. His wrist was at an awkward angle, and when he got to the ‘x’, the pen broke through the paper. This really would’ve been a lot easier with an email and an attached online document.

Not that he ever checked his school email, but still.

He picked the paper off and tried to write on his hand but it went through the paper again at the top of the ‘F’. He swore under his breath.

“Here, this’ll help,” Said a cheerful voice from his left. He turned to see a small girl holding out a folder to him. Her red hair was held in two pigtails, and she was wearing a loose cream sweater that looked perfect for the weather.

“Thanks,” He said as he grabbed the folder and held it under the paper.

“Are you signing up for the backstage?” She asked. 

Felix looked up at her. “No, I’m looking for the baking competition.”

She giggled. Giggled. This would be one of the girls that Sylvain would be hanging out with at this moment. 

“Ok, I’ll admit that was a stupid question.” She said. “I’m Annette, I’ve been on the backstage crew for a bit and we haven’t had a new face in a while. And you are. . .” She leaned over into his personal space to squint at his writing. “Rehx Fhraldarus?” 

“Felix.” He clarified for her.

“Oh wow no offense but that is probably the worst handwriting I’ve ever seen.”

“I get that a lot.” Ingrid had only asked for his notes if she was desperate, his script so slanted and sloppy it’s illegible to even himself sometimes.

He finished writing his name and passed the paper and pen off to her. She wrote her name (Annette Dominic) with a curling script and dotted her i’s with hearts. 

“What class do you have now?” She asked.

“Fodlan Lit, with Mr. Alois.” 

“Oh I have him during fourth period! His reading quizzes are so hard. I mean I do the reading but I always forget about the details,” She says with a sigh. “Anyway I have Faerghus History with Mr. Eisner, he’s on the second floor. Want to walk together?”

“Sure.” Felix said, readjusted his bag as they left the building. The cold weather from yesterday had carried over into today in the form of a brisk wind.

“Brrrr I hate how quickly it gets cold!” Annette said as she wrapped her arms around herself. 

“Isn’t that sweater supposed to keep you warm?” Felix asked.

“I guess I was going more for the look of it rather than its function. Boy am I regretting that now! Your sweatshirt looks nice and warm, you’re not shivering at all. Have you been to Itha before?”

Felix looks down at his sweatshirt of the day, a black sweatshirt with ‘Itha’ in big blocky letters on the sleeves and a picture of the mountains on the front.

“Yea, I visited with my dad and my brother.” He said as he held the door open for the both of them.

“Oh does your brother go here too?”

“No he’s much older. He graduated from Garreg Mach last Harpstring Moon. He’s taking a year break before grad school.”

“That’s so cool! It’s just me and my mom so my house is always quiet. I’ve always wished for siblings. Although a lot of my friends have some so I’d like to think of them as my adoptive siblings.” 

“He’s pretty cool for an older brother. We’ve always gotten along pretty well.”

“That’s good to hear! One of my friends, Ashe, oh he works backstage too, you’ll meet him soon. Anyway, he has an older brother and they’ve always seemed to butt heads a lot. Not that their relationship is bad or anything! I guess that’s just how brothers are.”

Felix hums in agreement. “Yea Glenn and I fought plenty of times when I was younger.” They walked in silence for a beat before Annette halted at the door to her class.

“Sorry, this is my stop! Before you go let me get your number.” She pulls out her phone from her back pocket. It had one of those clear glitter cases, with a polaroid stuck in it. Felix could see a selfie of two figures before she handed the phone to him, the ‘new contact’ page already pulled out.

Felix typed in ‘felix fraldarius’ and his number, handing it back to her. 

“I’ll text you so you know it's me, I guess I’ll see you around.” She opened the door but turned around quickly right before Felix was about to leave. 

“I didn’t know if you saw it, but we’re all going to meet on Friday! That’s the same day as auditions and even though we technically don’t have to audition we still go so we can all meet and get to know each other.” 

“Thanks for letting me know.” Felix said.

“No problem, I’ll see you Friday!” 

“Yea see you.”

Later, Felix was sitting in first period waiting for Ingrid to get there when he felt his phone buzz.

Unknown Number  


(7:24 am) Hi!!! This is Annette :)))

Felix sent up a thumbs up emoji before putting away his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you have a good happy new year, new chapter should be up by 01/09! Please excuse any typos I'm half asleep, I'll edit it in the morning.


	3. I Wanna Be The Reason You Can Smile Till You're Sore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being a few days late!! This chapter ended up being larger than I thought it would so I had to move the last part to chapter 4.  
> Chapter title is taken from I Don't Want to See You Cryin' Anymore by Adam Melchor
> 
> I hope you enjoy!! <3  
> -groove_key  
> 01/12/2021

It’s sixth period on a Thursday, and Felix is sitting in English class, looking at the paper Shamir had handed back to him. An eighty seven was circled in the top right corner of his recent essay, the same one he would be soon submitting to Garreg Mach. Class was a few minutes away from ending and Shamir had left her students to make use of that time. Students around him were chattering, books put away and phones pulled out. 

He stood up and walked over to Shamir, who was typing away on her computer with the school phone nestled between her ear and shoulder. She gave him an acknowledging glance, finished up her conversation with the caller, and put the phone back in its cradle.

“Felix, how can I help you?”

He hands her the paper, which she takes. “I’m not happy with the score.”

She nods, flipping the page, familiarizing herself with it. “It’s a solid essay, you did a good job.”

“I need to do better than an eighty seven.”

“You’re welcome to fix it on your own time, but your grade won’t change,”

“I know.”

“Well,” she says as she points at his work with her red pen. “Besides the few grammatical issues you had, the overall problem was the last paragraph. The first two parts do a great job showing how fencing has affected you throughout your life. This last part here,” she circles the paragraph with her red pen. “Is filler, like you needed to make the word count. You also need a transition to the conclusion, your essay will finish off a lot stronger. That’s why you lost points.”

“Ok, thanks,” Felix said as he took back his paper.

“Tell me, is Jerlat still at FFC?” Shamir asks.

“Yea, why do you ask?”

“My partner used to fence with him back when they were on the Faerghus National Team together, I figured she would want an update on him.”

Felix nodded. “Still there and seems like he’s not going to be leaving anytime soon. Thanks for the critique.”

“Anytime,” she said, before turning back to her computer. 

The bell rang, and students got up, hurriedly swinging their backpacks behind them as they rushed out of their last class of the day. Felix popped in some earbuds before being swept up in the masses. 

The end of the day was always bittersweet. The sweet elation of freedom was stifled as Felix was jostled in the crowd of upperclassmen racing to the parking lot. Even the loud music from Felix’s earbuds couldn’t drown out the screams and loud conversations of his fellow schoolmates. 

He passed the freshmen standing near the front of the school, waiting for their parents to pick them up. Some of the student council members were standing near their cars, perfectly parked in their special student council parking spots closer to the school. (Felix thought that was elitist, but whatever.) He could see Dimitri talking to Claude before he moved along.

He went down the stairs and on the narrow sidewalk to the parking lot. There were heads of black, brown, and blond, occasionally disrupted by a head of brightly dyed hair. Felix was walking behind two girls, one with bubblegum pink hair and a million pins on her small leather backpack. Nice, she liked the Breakfast Club.

He made a beeline to Sylvain’s red car, interweaving between students walking every which way. Cars drove down the aisles at a snail’s pace, honking at people who walked too close to the front of their bumpers. Sylvain always parked near the back; all of the good spots were taken by the time they arrived at school.

It was pretty common for Felix to get there earlier. He leaned against the car door and opened up his phone to answer the text message Ingrid had sent him earlier.

Ingrid  


(1:56)Hey do you want to meet me in the library tomorrow to work on our essays? 

Sure (2:35)

The bubbles popped up almost as soon as the message was delivered. 

(2:35) Awesome !! :) 

He shoved his phone in his pocket. He didn't have any more text messages to respond too, but Neck Deep's music kept him company. He scanned the parking lot, finally catching a glimpse of bright red hair on the other side. Dorothea was walking next to him in a trendy yellow dress that fit her well, and boots perfect for the cooler weather.

Felix watched them with a bored gaze until they reached the car, letting the loud music destroy his eardrums. He took them out when Sylvain got close enough. 

“Hey I’m taking Dorothea home with us, she’s going to help me with my audition,” Sylvain said.

Felix nodded at Dorothea behind him, who greeted him with a “Hi, Felix!” Dorothea got into the backseat and Felix in the passenger side. Sylvain started the car before handing him the aux cord. 

“Ugh what is all this trash back here. Is this a shirt?” she said, as she swept random things off the seat.

“Sorry, I’ve been meaning to clean out the backseat for a while. It’s been my junk space for a while.”

“You could find all sorts of treasures back here. You’re also not doing a good job at hiding your iced coffee addiction,” she said with a teasing tone, as she kicked at one of the empty Starbucks cups that littered the floor.

“Listen, you know you are addicted to it just as much as I am. But maybe this will be my chance to invite you out to some lovely iced coffee with me this weekend.” 

Felix was staring out the window, enjoying the premade Spotify playlist, but he could hear the smile in Sylvain’s voice. Not that he was serious; their flirty banter was a constant in the years they’ve known each other.

“Well with a suave invitation like that how ever can I say no? However I must decline, I’m afraid I already have plans.”

“Rain check then, but who are you going with? You got a hot date?”

“This guy in my chorus class asked me out and he had a nice voice so why not? I don’t know if you happen to know an Ian--”

“Ian Jaegar or Ian Ackerman?” Sylvain asked.

“Neither, his last name is Arlert. He’s taking me to this amazing Almyran place on the south side, and he offered to pay. Let me show you a picture of him.” 

She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through it. “By the way Felix, your music taste is a little depressing.”

“Too bad.” 

“He’s been listening to the same music since middle school. I hated it at first, it’s way too depressing sometimes, but it's grown on me over the years,” Sylvain said as he stopped at a red light. “I really like, uh,” he says as he looks at Felix. “What was that band who had the song from the Scott Pilgrim movie?”

“Metric?”

Sylvain snaps his fingers. “Yes, I like their music a lot. Also the Front Bottoms aren't so bad.”

“I’ve listened to the Front Bottoms on occasion,” Dorothea said from the back. “Here he is.” She passed her phone to Sylvain. Felix leaned over to see, not that he was interested or anything. 

It was a picture of a decent looking guy from an Instagram profile. Felix thinks he may have seen him in the halls between second and third period.

“Eh, he’s alright,” Sylvain said, “What do you think?”

Felix shrugged. “He’s kind of attractive, I guess,” He’s never really been into brunettes.

“Well if our date doesn’t work out I’m pretty sure I still have your number so I’ll send him your way,”

“Please do not do that,” Felix said, rubbing his temples as the light turned green.

Sylvain laughed. “The guy isn’t his type, sorry. Have you thought about a homecoming date?”

She sighed, “No not yet. If the date this weekend works out I wouldn’t mind going with him. Thank goddess the dance is still a few weeks away, I still need to find a dress. I’m thinking maybe a gold color? I got Edelgard to tell me the theme this year, it’s going to be 'A Night in Faerghus'.”

“Really?” Sylvain said, “I’ve been hounding Dimitri about it for days and he hasn’t said so much as a peep. What the fuck Dorothea, how did you do it?”

She giggled, “Oh I never reveal my secrets, sorry boys. Are you going to the dance?” she said, addressing Felix.

“Nope,” he said.

“Why not? The dances are always so much fun,” Dorothea said as she leaned over into the space between the front seats. Felix shifted closer to the door.

“I said no.”

“Oh Felix don’t be like that,” she cooed.

“He did go to homecoming once,” Sylvain added.

“I was there for ten minutes that doesn’t count,” Felix replied. During sophomore year, Sylvain had convinced him to go. Sylvain had a date and Dimitri was running around getting all the votes for homecoming royalty, so it was just Felix and Ingrid. They had both mutually agreed ten minutes in that this was boring and not worth the twenty dollar tickets. They left with a text to both Sylvain and Dimitri explaining they were leaving, and waited outside for Glenn to pick them up. 

Glenn had taken them to McDonalds afterwards and Ingrid had gotten ketchup on her beautiful white dress, and was oblivious to it for ten minutes. She even went up to the register to get an extra straw. It took everything in them for Glenn and Felix to hold back their laughter, but they were only human. Glenn laughed so hard that some sprite came out of his nose, and Ingrid was furious, but she laughed too. 

“Well give it another chance it might be fun! What about you, have you got a date yet?”

Sylvain shrugged as he turned into Northeast Heights. “I don’t really have any one specific in mind. I thought I could ask Daphne but she’s not talking to me, and she blabbed to all her friends so I’m not sure yet. Maybe Addy? She seems pretty friendly and I don’t think she and Daphne have any classes”

Felix let out a defeated sigh, which made Dorothea crack up.

“If my date doesn’t work out we can go together just as friends.” She said reassuringly. 

“I’m happy my backup date is the prettiest girl at Fhirdiad High,” 

They pulled into the Gautier’s driveway. Felix grabbed his bag, made sure to unplug his phone from the aux cord and said goodbye to Sylvain and Dorothea.

Neither Rodrigue's nor Glenn’s car wasn’t in the garage, and the house was silent when Felix stepped inside. He grabbed a protein bar from a half opened box in the pantry before heading up to his room. 

The early afternoon sunlight shined brightly through his blinds, lighting up his sparse room. There was a bed with a grey duvet, a nightstand with a clock, a packet of hair ties, and some aspirin sitting on top. A mirror hung on the wall next to the closet. His fencing duffle was next to his desk, and his swords were propped up in the corner next to their chargers.

His desk was barren and impersonal, decorated by an extremely bright light that Rodrigue had gotten him for Christmas one year and a pencil cup. A calendar was pinned to the wall, featuring old European castles. His textbooks were stacked and pushed to the side.

Chemistry was probably Felix’s favorite subject. It wasn’t necessarily because he had an undiscovered passion for it, but more so it came naturally to him. The mathematical formulas and the nature of molecules made sense. Hannerman wasn’t the most inspiring of teachers, but Felix never had a teacher who was. 

He shuffled through the packet of worksheets and bookwork assigned for this week. Right now, homework was just a buffer between now and fencing practice. Usually Felix would usually do a little practice with Glenn in the backyard, but that wasn’t an option today.

Glenn wasn’t a super formidable opponent. He had only done fencing for a year before dropping, leaving Felix to quickly and easily surpass him.. He had natural skill for it, just no interest. He was pretty decent and could probably hold his own in a tournament thanks to all the times he practiced with his Felix. 

Oh well, Chemistry isn’t so bad.

By the time five thirty rolled around, most of Felix’s homework had been completed and was put away in his backpack to be turned in tomorrow. His stomach, which had been aching for the past half hour, let out a groan of protest. Felix leaned back in his chair and stretched, before heading down stairs to see if he could make a small pre-practice meal.

Rodrigue only cooked four out of seven days of the week. You would think that Felix would have honed his cooking skills, and would be able to feed himself on something other than mac n cheese or ramen. Unfortunately, that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Felix opened the fridge and scanned the painfully bare shelves. There was some leftover rice and black beans in a tupperware container, some pasta in another, and a bag of grapes in the fruit drawer. The only thing in the meat drawer with some deli turkey with a neon pink post-it note that said ‘do not touch! -G.’ 

Glenn was supposed to pick up the groceries tomorrow, so Felix would have to make do with eggs again. He pulled out the carton and shut the refrigerator door.

Felix had just put the pan on the stove when the door of the master bedroom open. He heard footsteps on the living room carpet before Rodrigue joined his son in the kitchen.

“There’s some leftovers in the fridge, don’t you want to eat those instead?” Rodrigue asked as a way of ‘hello Felix, how was your day?’

“No, eggs are fine.” Felix said as he cracked an egg in the pan. It hissed and sizzled as it touched the metal.

“If you say so, but I’d hate to see that food go to waste. Could you take out the trash before fencing?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks,” Rodrigue said, as he started pulling out the containers of rice and beans and moving to put them in the microwave. “How was school?”

“Normal”

“How was the art history test? You're doing Bronze Age in the Mediterranean, right?”

“Yea, and I think I did fine, I probably got a high B or a low A.”

“How about that essay for English?”

“I got an eighty five, but I talked to Ms. Shamir about it and she gave me her critique. I’ll edit it and run it by her one more time before I submit it to Garreg Mach.”

“Maybe you could give it to Glenn to look over as well. It never hurts to have a second pair of eyes, or a third pair in this case.”

“Yea, not gonna do that.”

“Felix, don't be like that," Rodrige said as he crossed his arms. "I just want to make sure you have the best chance of getting into Garreg Mach, it gets more selective each year.”

“I am very aware of that fact considering you bring it up every other day,” Felix said under his breath as he shoved his eggs from the pan onto a blue ceramic plate. “Seriously, I’m going to be fine. Glenn got in and he’s an idiot.”

“Don’t call your brother an idiot.” Rodrigue paused, “I will admit he has his, idiotic moments, but Glenn is smart, just like you.” 

The microwaved beeped, and Rodrigue pulled the leftovers out of the microwave. Father and son ate quietly together, Rodrigue scrolling through stock reports on his phone, and Felix staring out the window into the front yard. When Rodrigue finished, he loaded his plate in the dishwasher and retreated to his room. 

Felix took his time with eggs, moving them around his plate as he watched the occasional car drive by. When he was done, he dumped his plate in the sink, and took the trash out.

After he closed the lid of the trash can outside, he heard laughter, coming from Sylvain’s backyard. Dorothea must still be over, and Felix still had some time to kill before he had to get ready for fencing practice.

Walking around the side of the house, he saw Sylvain dressed in a tank top, baggy pants, and cowboy boots dancing while Dorothea held her phone up in front of her.

“You’re not getting the timing right, you need to dance a little faster.” She said as he stopped dancing.

“This was your idea in the first place, can we at least take a break?” He said, panting a little bit.

“What are you guys doing?” Felix asked as he sat down in one of the Gautier’s patio chairs. It was one of those iron furniture sets, made slightly more comfortable by the multicolor cushions and seasonal throw pillows. Sylvain perked up when he saw him. 

“This video reminded me of him, so I convinced him to recreate it,” Dorothea said as she handed Felix her phone. It was the video Sylvain had sent the other day with the dancing cowboy. 

“Glad to see you’re making good use of your time,” Felix said. “I thought you were gonna practice the monologue for the audition.”

“We did practice but there’s only so many times you can recite the same scene. Besides, you have to admit it’s kind of a funny video. It’s going to be even funnier now with my natural charisma and charm,” Sylvain said as he sat down. “But I’ve been doing it for at least an hour now, I think a break is well deserved.”

His tank top had ridden up a little, showing the briefest glimpse of his stomach, shiny with a thin sheen of sweat. Something small uncurled itself in Felix’s chest. He looked away quickly and the feeling dissipated. 

“No resting when internet fame is on the line,” Dorothea said as she sat down as well, tapping some things on her phone. 

“With your beautiful face I’m surprised you aren’t internet famous already,” Sylvain said as he pushed his bangs back from his forehead. Felix rolled his eyes.

“Do you want to be in the video?” Dorothea asked politely. 

Sylvain laughed. “Felix is too busy for social media. I’m pretty sure he has like, three Instagram posts.

Felix did indeed have three Instagram posts on his profile. The first one was a selfie of fourteen year old Felix and fifteen year old Sylvain from freshman year, when Felix had set up his Instagram account. Well, Sylvain had set it up for him, and taken a selfie in celebration. 

The second photo had been posted a few weeks later at one of Felix’s fencing tournaments. He was holding a gold medal proudly, still with his saber in hand.

The third photo was from this past summer, a nice picture of Glenn and Felix against the Itha mountains. Glenn was holding up two peace signs with a wide smile, and Felix had his arms crossed, his head turned away in a laugh. None of the photos had captions, and Felix rarely went on it. He honestly didn’t even know why he still had it. 

“By the way do you have a bathrobe? It’s the one thing I didn’t have,” Sylvain asked.

“I think Glenn has one, let's go poke around his room.” Felix sent a silent look to Sylvain, his eyes darting over at Dorothea, who was texting someone with lightning thumbs. 

“Alright, " Sylvain said as the two of them stood up. "We'll be right back Doro."

"Don't take too long boys."

They went through the back door and climbed the stairs to Glenn’s bedroom, Sylvain waving to Rodrigue as they passed him in the hallway.

“Good to see you as always, Sylvain,” Rodrigue said as he gave a firm pat on the back. Felix opened Glenn’s door, which was just down the hall from his own.

They never got tornadoes in Fhirdiad, but if they had, the aftermath would probably look a lot like Glenn’s bedroom. Posters covered every square inch of the boring beige walls, some from bands or movies Glenn had stop liking years ago. Papers were not only scattered on the desk, but also the floor and the bed. A thin layer of clothes and shoes covered the floor, and a familiar shirt hung off the corner of the tv.

“Wait a second,” Felix said as he yanked the shirt down. 

“Isn’t that yours? It looks familiar” Sylvain asked.

“You’re goddamn right it is. I’ve been wondering where that shirt went.” Felix said as he tucked it under his arm. 

It was a shirt with a band that Felix used to listen to. He bought it a few years ago, thinking he would grow into an adult male medium. He never did, so it would probably fit Glenn better, but that was besides the point.

“Okay, do you have any idea, like at all where a bathrobe could be in this mess? Like this is seriously impressive how messy this room is, he deserves an award.” 

“No idea, but it’s got to be here somewhere. I’ll check the bathroom just in case.”

Felix stepped out to check the small hall bathroom. He checked the back of the door and the hooks near the shower. Nope, only towels. He even looked under the sink just in case it was hiding behind expired bottles of Tylenol or spare toothbrushes.

“Found it!” Called Sylvain, his voice muffled. Felix closed the bathroom cabinet and went back to Glenn’s room. 

Sylvain was stretched out on the bed, leaning over the side to pull something navy and plush from beneath the bed. He held it up triumphantly.

“Under the bed?” Felix said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. 

“A little dust and neglect, but besides that it looks fine,” Sylvain said as he sat up and shrugged on the robe. He and Glenn were just about the same height; it was a perfect fit.

“I’m surprised how soft this is even though I found it shoved under the bed, here feel it,” Sylvain says, holding out his arm.

The clouds parted, and sunlight lit up the room from the crack in the blinds, painting stripes of orange sun rays across Sylvain’s outstretched arm. Felix walked over and rubbed Sylvain’s forearm, feeling the plush bathrobe underneath the pads of his fingers.

“Yea that’s soft. I might steal it from him when you’re done with it. Give it a good wash too,” Felix said, turning away.

“I’m not even that sweaty, I swear!” Sylvain says as picked up the ends of the robe. “This is a pretty nice material, it’s very soft and light. Hey do you think it does the thing where you twirl and it kinda spins out around your legs? Like what some skirts do?”

“Uh I don’t follow,” Felix said, crossing his arms, but Sylvain was already tying the ties of the robe.

“Here,” Sylvain said as he spun around a few times. The robe did in fact spin out around his knees, and Sylvain let out a shout of glee. 

“It does do that! I’ve always wanted to do that, girls look like they’re having so much fun when they do that.”

“You’re twelve I swear to the goddess.”

“You’re never too old to have a little bit of fun, c’mon, spin with me,” Sylvain said, grabbing both of Felix’s hands and spinning him around.

“Sylvain stop it,” Felix said, almost tripping on his feet and trying to sound pissed. Sylvain threw his head back, laughing in glee. The posters on Glenn’s walls all became blurred together, and Sylvain became the only thing in the room that was in focus. 

It was just the two of them, spinning around without reason in the dying afternoon sun. If this was a coming of age movie, this would probably be when the memorable indie song started playing. Felix was hit with a rush of happiness so strong he almost started laughing.

And then something sharp pierced his foot.

With a grunt of paint, Felix’s leg buckled and he went down, pulling Sylvain down with him. His shoulder hit the frame of the bed, and he fell on a pair of shoes. Sylvain fell next to him, knocking over a small stack of comics and trying to grab the side of the bed before he hit the floor with a loud thud.

They both lay there for a second, chests heaving, the sound of their breaths hanging in the air.

“Hey you good there? You went down like the titanic,” Sylvain asks, getting up to hover over Felix. 

His hair was haloed by the sun, his eyes reflecting its warm light. He had a soft smile, his face red from exertion. Felix could only stare up at him, a smile creeping onto his face as much as he tried to surpress it.

“You’re a hot mess, you know that?” Felix said.

Sylvain snorts, as he leans back into the cool shadows of the room. “Believe me, I know. Dorothea probably thinks we’re both dead by now.” 

Felix couldn’t remember doing something so carefree and silly, they probably hadn’t done anything like that since they were kids. Felix fondly remembers days of jumping on the bed and making forts in each other's rooms.

They seemed so far away.

He should probably see what stabbed his foot. Felix pulls his foot closer to him, seeing one of Glenn’s earrings sticking out of it. It was a small fake stone, glittering like some weird foot piercing. 

“Well that looks painful, are you just going to-- oh gross!” Sylvain said as Felix yanked the earring from the bottom of his foot, a miniscule drop of blood welling up. 

“It doesn’t hurt too badly. I’ll put a bandage on it and it’ll be fine.”

“You are so brave, you’re like a warrior.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

They both stood up and Sylvain leaned in and snaked his arm around Felix’s waist. Felix instinctively flinched away, a feeling flared to life. Embarrassment? Yea that was probably it. Sylvain didn’t need to act as a crutch for him, he was fine. 

“I didn’t lose my leg, I'm fine.”

“Yea but you could get blood all over the floor.” Sylvain says as he follows Felix to the bathroom, inspecting the floor for any possible blood stains.

“Do you see how tiny that hole is? Be real.” 

“Humor me then, I care too much about your hallway floor.”

“No.”

Felix rummaged around in the cabinet, finally finding a half full box of bandaids. They were all hideous neon colors, so he picked the least hideous one he could find (blue), peeled it off and stuck it to the bottom of his foot.

“Is this how you treat all your injuries?” Sylvain said, as he leaned against the door frame of the bathroom.

Felix furrowed his brow. “I know it’s a hideous band aid but it’s still a band aid.” he says as he throws the box under the cabinet, a few bandages flying out and landing around the bottles of medicine. 

“No I’m talking about how you stuck it on. You didn’t even wash your hands or anything.” 

Felix pushed past Sylvain and down the stairs. “It’s literally the size of a . . . a . . . I don’t know what but it is super small.” 

“It’s not that, like what do you do if you get a paper cut or something?”

“I’ve never gotten a paper cut in my life.”

“Well aren’t you lucky. Well what about a scrape?”

“I put a bandaid on it?” Felix sighs. “What are you getting at it?”

“That’s the problem! You should wash your hands and then clean the area so it doesn’t get infected, this is like basic medical care. You’re going to die of an infection one day and it’s going to be your own fault.”

“Thank you Doctor Sylvain, make sure to bill my corpse the medical bill.”

“You won’t be laughing when you’re six feet under,” Sylvain said as he followed Felix down the stairs and out the door. The sun was just beginning to set, washing the skies with shades of pink and orange. Dorothea was sitting with her legs thrown over the armrest.

“Oh good you found the bathrobe! I thought you both died there for a second.”

“It was a struggle but we were able to find one,” said Sylvain as he stood with his hands on his hips.

Felix took a seat and watched as Sylvain completed the rest of the dance with Dorothea’s coaching. When they were done with the bathrobe Sylvain tossed it to Felix, who held it in his lap, playing with the sleeves. The feeling in his chest was light, and it stayed there until he had to leave.

* * *

When sixth period ended the following day, Felix headed to the library to meet up with Ingrid. 

The library was rarely visited nowadays, but it had a few regulars right after school. The chess club met here on Fridays, Felix saw them off to the side sitting around tables with various chess boards. There were students sitting at those round tables with the fake, plastic-y wood, doing more talking than working. When he passed by the fiction section, he saw a couple making out in one of the aisles. Ew, gross.

Ingrid was seated at the end of one of the rows of computers with their dusty screens and clunky keyboards.

“Hello,” he said as he sat down at the computer next to her.

“Hey,” she said, “Give me one second to finish proofreading,”

He logged onto the school computer, opening up the google doc with his college essay. After a beat, Ingrid leaned back from the screen. 

“I’ve been working on this for what feels like forever, my back is killing me.” she said. “How’s your essay going?”

“Fine. Shamir gave me some critique, thought I would finish it up today before the auditions.” 

“That’s right, I forgot those were today. Where’s Sylvain?”

“He’s meeting up with someone, he said he would meet me here before so we could walk together.”

“Why do you have to go? I didn’t think backstage people had to audition for anything. I’m assuming turning lights on and off doesn’t take much skill.” 

“I met one of the girls when I was signing up. She told me they meet up anyway just to go over stuff.” 

“That’s nice at least, you’ll be able to meet everyone. I’m sure you’ll be able to meet some cool people. Anyway I know Shamir is brutal with her grading, but I did pretty alright on the essay assignment. I think I’m pretty much set to submit my application. How close are you to finishing?”

“Just need to edit the last paragraph,” 

“Great! We need to make a date so we can all submit them at the same time like we agreed--”

“That’s really unnecessary,” he interrupted, because it was. 

They had made that agreement sometime during freshman or sophomore year to all submit their applications at the same time. Felix didn’t really care for it then, he thought they would have forgotten it by now. He had sorely underestimated the extent of Ingrid’s iron trap memory.

“Yes I know your thoughts on it but we’re going to do it anyway. I was thinking we could meet up at that diner after school sometime next week or the week after that. Sylvain is close to finishing and Dimitri’s all done with his but I’ve asked him not to submit it yet.”

Felix shrugged, “whatever you say.” 

“Great, I’ll talk to the others about a date that works out for all of us. I hope we can find one, especially now since you and Sylvain are going to be busy with the play. It’ll give me time to finish up the scholarship essay as well.”

“Have fun with that.”

“It really makes me want to pull my hair out if I’m being honest. The prompt is so generic and vague.” 

They both work in silence for a few minutes. Felix had pulled out some notebook paper where he jotted down a few notes. Ingrid, who was known for abusing keyboards, was uncharacteristically typing slowly, pecking at the keys. Felix sent her a side glance a few moments before he asks her.

“Something up?”

“Huh? Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine.” she said.

Felix remained silent, giving her the option. She was quiet for a few minutes before speaking.

“Dad is still badgering me about my major choice.”

Felix stopped typing. “I thought he stopped,”

“He didn’t,” she stared at her screen. She had slumped in her seat, and it was one of those moments where Felix was reminded that Ingrid is only seventeen, not even an adult. Yet, the burden of responsibility weighs heavily on her shoulders, dragging her down. Felix felt a pang in his heart for her.

Ingrid was always the strongest out of their group. She would be the one to fall and scrape her knee and she wouldn’t shed a tear. Girls talked behind her back in middle school and she kept her chin held high. But she wasn’t invincible. 

He remembered one day in ninth grade when she was on the verge of a breakdown in the middle of biology. They noticed how she was taking measured breaths and her eyes were fighting back tears. She excused herself to go to the bathroom, and hadn’t returned by the time class had ended. Felix had grabbed her backpack, and waited outside the girls bathroom with Sylvain and Dimitri until she came out and reassured them that she was okay. 

“I mentioned something the other day and he pulled the tuition card. Said that I’m more than welcome to pay for it myself but he knows you can’t pay college tuition with a minimum wage job. Even if I get the scholarships, it’s not enough, it will never be enough. It sucks, it sucks so much.” 

Felix sits there silently, allowing her to vent.

“I talked to Mr. Seteth about it too,” She continued, “he’s been really understanding of everything. Although his advice was kind of vague, he said to do what I think is best but I don’t know what that is.”

“You’ve always wanted to be a teacher, you should go with that. Just because he’s your dad doesn’t mean you owe him your life.”

“But I can’t do that, not with him hanging his money above my head. He’s always been so good to me despite what’s happened, and I know he only wants what’s best for me. Maybe he does know what’s best for me, some of the pros of accounting are certainly attractive.”

Felix really doesn’t know what to say. He knows that Ingrid and her dad, although they have their disagreements, are still pretty close. He’s the only family she has.

“Accounting isn’t a bad job, they make good money,”

She laughed, “Yea they do, and I don’t mind math I guess. I don’t know. Good thing I have a week or two to think it over, I’m going to need it.” She up straighter in her chair. “You’re still doing chemistry right? Or was it bio chem?”

“Chemistry, it seems like the best choice right now.”

“I know the STEM fields at Garreg Mach are really competitive but I’m sure you’ll get in.”

“I’m not too worried about it.” They returned to working on their assignments in comfortable silence. The conversation seemed to help carry some of the weight. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard.

Working on his essay was slow going, and by the time half an hour had passed, only half of the paragraph was quality writing. He had a few random sentences typed in at the bottom of the page. They were random tidbits of things he wanted to say, lost and without a home, but it wasn’t something he wanted to deal with right now.

Felix was staring at the screen when he felt fingers creeping up at the junction of his neck and shoulder. He shuddered and threw his arm over one of his shoulders, hitting Sylvain right in the face with a resounding smack.

“Goddamn Felix,” Sylvain said in pain. 

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” said Felix. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yea, I think I’ve practiced enough, pretty sure I’m going to nail it. Whatcha working on?” He said as he stepped over to lean over Ingrid’s shoulder.

“Just some scholarship stuff,” she said, waving him off. “Same old, same old, you two run along now.”

“What are you, our mom?” Felix asked, closing out the google document and signing off of the computer.

“Good luck with your audition!” she said, ignoring Felix's comment.

“Actually,” Sylvain started, “saying good luck is bad luck, you should be saying break a leg--”

“Oh shove it” Felix says as he pushes him out of the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is starting for me in a week so things will get BUSY but I'll aim to get this chapter out by the 26th? Won't make any promises but that's my goal.
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


	4. Sweet Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright i updated the total chapters to 25! hooray! I really struggled with this chapter, and I'm still not super happy with it, sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy! Chapter title is from the song 'what you know' by two door cinema club.  
> -groove_key 01/31/2021

The slam of the library door echoed in the empty hallway, bouncing off the metal lockers and the shiny floors. Sylvain and Felix headed towards the auditorium, passing by volunteers putting up posters advertising homecoming in big gold letters.

In the auditorium, groups of students sat in the front few rows, chatting amongst themselves. A woman stood on stage talking to Principal Rhea, a thick stack of scripts in her hand. Felix thinks she’s the drama teacher, but he’s not one hundred percent sure.

"Sylvain! Over here!" Dorothea shouts from the front of the room, waving him over. She's sitting with a few other students in a circle, who all look at him expectantly.

"Coming!" He shouts, before turning to Felix. "I'll come get you once we're done, go have fun and stuff." 

"Sure, don't have too much fun," said Felix grumpily, and Sylvain laughed before sauntering towards Dorothea and her friends.

Felix scans the room, and sees a familiar set of pigtails wrapping up some wires. As he approached her, he could hear her singing a little song about cables and curtains and. . . theatre beasties? He leans against one of the aisle seats, arms crossed, unsure whether to interrupt. She finished wrapping the last cable around her arm and startled when she turned and saw him.

“Nice song you got there. I haven’t heard of it before.”

“Oh Goddess, you gave me a heart attack.” She said, clutching her chest. “Were you spying on me?”

“Not intentionally, no. What are theatre beasties by the way? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of such a thing before.”

She stared at him for a moment. “I don’t know you that well, but I thought it’s common knowledge not to spy on people like that.”

“I didn’t mean it, you’re the only person I know here. I didn’t know where we were supposed to meet.” He said with a shrug.

. “Right, right, sorry about that. Here can you carry these?” Felix took the cables she passed to him, and followed her as she headed towards the stage. They were thick cables, a little heavier than Felix expected, but Annette carried them like a champ.

“We’ll take these to the A/V room and then we’ll go meet up with everyone.” She said as they maneuvered themselves around people and towards a small room in the back. Annette unclipped a ring of keys from one of her belt loops and unlocked the a/v room, pushing the door open with a grunt. “Darn door is always so heavy, watch yourself there. Anyway here’s the A/V room.”

It was a small room with checkerboard tile and wires hanging off of every possible surface. There were some speakers stacked up in the corner and labeled file cabinets right next to them. She hung the loops of cable on a hook, and Felix passed her the ones he was carrying so she could hang them in their proper place.

“So this is where we keep most of our,” she gestures wildly, “stuff. I’ll give you a quick rundown but don’t feel like you have to remember it right away. Any sound cables are going to hang on the wall, we arrange them by type and size. This shelf right here,” she points to a plastic shelf with bottles and machines, “is mostly where we keep our fog juice, fog machine, and other assorted special effects.” 

“Fog juice? Sounds like a drink.”

“Oh my goddess please do not drink the fog juice. It’s what we call the liquid we pour into the fog machine, I’m pretty sure you’ll have to go to the hospital if you drink it.” She moves on to another stack of drawers, Felix trailing behind her.

She pulled the top one open to reveal metal frames with different colors stretched between them. "These are our gels, we attach these to the lights to make them change colors. We don't use them super often, and even when we do they're pretty easy to attach." She closed the drawer. 

“And finally this is where we keep the mics. Each mic has its own little drawer,” she pulled one open to show him the case the mic was kept in. “We have three types of mics, the traditional ones we use for performances, which usually come with a mic stand. We have these small mics that hang from the ceiling to catch the ensemble voices, and then we have these really cool ones we got recently, you thread them through the actors’ hair and it hangs right above their forehead.”

“Right, and which microphones do you use to sing about little theatre monsters?”

She stared at him for a moment, and he held her gaze, trying his best to stifle his smile.

“How much do you want?” She asked.

“How much do I . . . want?”

“I’ll give you as many cookies as you want to forget about my little monster friends.” She hissed.

He smiled broadly. “Sorry, I don’t like sweets.”

“Darn it, that was my best shot! Mercie is a really amazing baker, she usually brings treats for us. Her muffins are absolutely to die for.” She sighed happily at the thought.

Felix shrugged. “Well sorry, but not even these supposedly amazing muffins will make me forget. . ah. . .what were they called again?”

“Theatre beasties,” she grumbled, before she slapped her hand over her mouth. A laugh so wild and energetic escaped him before he could catch it, and she seemed almost caught off guard by the explosion, before cracking a smile herself.

“I'll admit you got me there,” she said, holding her hands up in surrender. “I think that’s everything in the A/V room here, do you want to go check out the curtains?”

“Sure,”

“You’re not afraid of heights are you?”

“Nope,”

“Great! It would be a bit of a problem if you were.” 

They exited the A/V room, Annette locking the door behind them and walking down the hall to the wing of the stage. 

“You might want to leave your bag down here,” she said, pointing to a spot next to the dark ladder that rose into the shadows. “I’ll go first,”

She climbed up the ladder quickly, and Felix followed, gripping the rungs tightly and moving at a steady pace. He hoisted himself onto the metal platform, brushing the dirt from his palms before standing up. It had a great view of the brightly lit stage, and part of the audience. Across from the banister were a complicated series of ropes and pulleys.

“So this is where the magic happens, where we raise and lower the curtains. Ashe usually does curtains for most shows, which is great because it’s so dark and dirty up here.” 

Felix hums, and leans on the banister. “It’s got a nice view though.”

“It totally does,” she says. “Ashe really likes it up here, he says he can watch the whole show. I totally agree with him. I usually work on sound back at the booth, and the view just isn’t the same.” She pauses for a beat before snapping her fingers. "Oh I forgot to mention safety stuff."

"I'm assuming just don't be an idiot."

"Safety is important, but that is a pretty easy way to sum it up. Luckily the school hasn't been sued for anything yet so we must be doing something right. Just be careful going back down the ladder."

When they were both back on the ground, Annette wiped her hands on her skinny jeans. Felix grabbed his bag off the floor and slung it back over his shoulder. 

“There’s also a room down the hall where we keep costumes and props. Mercie helps out with the costumes each year so that’s kind of her thing. I guess the last thing we need to cover is the booth in the back.”

They snuck around the side of the stage where the drama teacher was reading out instructions for audition procedures. Felix could see Sylvain's head of fiery hair in the audience, and Sylvain caught his gaze, glanced over at Annette, and then sent him a wink. Felix rolled his eyes and kept his gaze on the back of Annette's head.

The door was propped open with a stool, and Felix could hear lively conversation coming from within. There were four students inside, three talking amongst themselves. The booth itself would’ve been a pretty nice size if it weren’t for the amount of equipment that had been shoved inside. 

“Hi Annie,. Oh, hi Felix,” Mercedes said when the entered. “I didn’t know you were in backstage.”

“Yep he’s our newbie. I was just showing him the A/V room and the curtain,” she turned to Felix and pointed everyone out. “Felix, you already know Mercie, but this is Dedue, Ashe, and the lazy bones over there is Linhardt. Everyone this is Felix, he’s the guy I ran into while signing up.”

A chorus of “hi Felix” echoed throughout, and he resorted to just giving a small nod.

“Alright so now that that’s out of the way,” she continued on pulling out a clipboard from seemingly thin air, “We have to figure out who’s on what this year. Manuela has given me a list of ideas she wants to happen. This includes,” she clears her throat, “fog machines, flashing lights, a head that will come down from the ceiling, a reversible dress, a fake house on wheels, as well as general background set pieces.” 

Linhardt groaned. “That’s so much, why do we even need all of this?”

“Have you ever actually seen the Wizard of Oz? These are crucial parts to the story,” Annette exclaimed.

“I really recommend it,” said Ashe, as he started rummaging around for something in his bag. “It’s quite a great book, I've started reading it and I'm really enjoying it.” He pulls out a well loved paper back with a decorative book mark sticking out around the halfway point.

“Thanks but I’ll pass,” Linhardt said, stifling a yawn. “It sounds like she’s asking a lot more from us this year than normal. Do you remember when we did Heathers? That was such an easy set.”

“This show will take more creativity,” Deduce added.

“I think the reversible dress one, if it worked out, would be a really cool effect.” Mercedes said, looking thoughtfully. “I’ve always loved Dorothy’s outfit, I’m so excited to make it.”

“Ok so Mercie will work on costumes again this year.” Annette said, writing it down. “And don’t forget, everyone’s going to have to work together on the sets.”

“I hate set day,” Linhardt said with a groan.

“Linny, I put so much effort into set day last year, it was a total blast!” Annette said, jabbing him with the clipboard. “And this one is going to be even better, it’ll knock your socks off.”

Mercedes patted Annette’s back. “I am really looking forward to it, I’ve got some delicious recipes I can’t wait for you guys to try.” 

“Yea Linhardt, be nice,” Ashe teased as he nudged Linhardt in the side.

“Anyways,” Annette said, still side eyeing Linhardt who began to take mild interest in the small bruise forming on his arm.“We’ll have somebody on the curtain, maybe two people if it calls for it. I think the second person should handle the actors' mics as well. For the booth, two people will be on sound, one person on lights, and one person on top of the booth doing the spotlights.”

“I’d like to do the spotlights if possible,” Dedue said, and Annette wrote a note down. 

Ashe raised his hand like he was in class. “I’ll take the curtain again,”

“Perfect,” Annette said, “Linhardt, do you want to be on the curtain too?”

“No thanks, you can put me with lights in the booth again.” 

“I can take the curtains and the actors' mics,” Mercedes said.

Annette wrote everything down, then turned to look at Felix. “Looks like you’re on sound with me, hope you don’t mind.”

“Yea, that’s fine.”

“Good luck with that,” Linhardt said under his breath. “This is why our last sound guy quit.”

“Hubert didn’t quit, he graduated,” said Dedue.

“That’s a technicality.” 

“I miss him, he was an interesting conversationalist,” Mercedes said.

“He was kind of hard to talk to,” Ashe said with a nervous laugh. “I felt like he was judging me when I talked about my favorite books,”

“I still follow him on Instagram, he travelled around Adrestia last summer before going to Embarr for college.” Annette said. “He’s still as dark and emo as ever though, some things never change.”

“Maybe it’s a trend for the people who run sound to wear all black,” Dedue said, eyes darting to Felix for a split second. Felix frowned, looking down at his outfit. Dedue wasn’t wrong, but still.

“Isn’t Annette on sound also? You look like you stepped out of an H&M catalogue,” Felix said.

“Well there was her emo phase freshman year,” Mercedes said with a teasing grin.

“I thought we collectively agreed to forget about it.” Annette said with a groan, hiding her face behind her clipboard.

“What’s this about an emo phase?” Felix asked, eyebrows raised.

“Annie came into high school everyday with a band tshirt, a smokey eye, and dark skinny jeans. It was quite a time.” Mercedes said. “I remember being dragged to Hot Topic and Spencer’s every other weekend.”

“Traitor! Although those shopping trips were a lot of fun,” Annette admitted. "Thank god I've moved on from that." 

The group had an interesting dynamic. Linhardt and Annette argued back and forth, with Ashe and Mercedes trying to mediate, and Dedue and Felix watching from a distance. It was comfortable., although very much different then Felix's group of friends. Sylvain, Ingrid, Dimitri, part of the strength of their bond was the duration of their friendship. These ragtag, random group of kids, who seemed to have not much in common other than they liked working turning on lights and pulling up curtains, were laughing and joking as if they had all known each other for years.

By the time an hour and a half passed, Felix could see students slinging on their backpacks and streaming down the aisles of the auditorium. Ashe looked out the booth window. "Looks like the auditions just finished up, oh is that--?" He was cut off by a boy with electric blue hair bursting into the room.

“I totally killed that audition dude,” the new comer said loudly. “But we gotta hurry up I need to be early to wrestling practice.”

“Good for you.” Linhardt mumbled, still leaning back against the wall in an uncomfortable looking position, eyes closed. 

“Hi Caspar,” Annette said with a smile.

“Hey guys! Ashe my dude, how’s it hanging? How’s Leftovers doing?” Caspar said as he held his hand up for a fist bump, which Ashe gave him.

“The vet recommended I cut down on his cat food, he’s still a little overweight.” Ashe said with a sigh.

“It’s good that you’re putting him on some sort of diet, he really is too fat.” Dedue added.

“Oh come on, Leftovers is beautiful just the way he is, I love that little guy,” Annette said. “He’s like a bread loaf. I love it when he walks, it’s so cute.”

“He doesn’t even walk, he just waddles.” Linhardt said, and then gave out a yawn. “Do we have to right now?” He asked Caspar.

“Yea yea get your lazy butt out of that seat, I’m missing some serious gym time right now.”

“If you insist,”he said as he stood up and grabbed his backpack.“See you guys later.” 

Their departure signaled to everyone to get ready to leave. Mercedes, Dedue and Ashe all bid everyone farewell before leaving, and then it was just Felix and Annette.

“Do you have a ride home?” she asked, locking the booth door behind her. 

“Yea, my friend drives. He should be here soon.”

“I’ll wait with you.” She slid down to the floor, clutching a school binder to her chest. She patted the space next to her. Felix joined her.

“So what do you think of everything so far?” 

Felix took a moment, adjusting his backpack behind him. “Everyone seems nice enough.”

“Did you know Mercedes from somewhere?”

“Yea, we have a class together.” Felix had met her in art history earlier this year. She was a preferable seat mate, polite, friendly, and didn't ask to copy off his homework of cheat off his tests. He hadn't really gotten to know her that well, which he felt a little guilty about now. “Is Linhardt really that lazy?”

She snorts. “You don’t even know half of it. Once he told me that he sleeps two days for every three days he’s awake. I was so surprised, it’s kind of impressive even for him.”

“It explains why he’s so tired.”

“ For a few months he did soundboard and kept falling asleep during shows, so he got moved to do curtains. He actually fell asleep standing up, it was both terrifying and impressive. Wait, I think I have a video of it,” She pulled out her phone, and started scrolling through her videos.

She pulls up a grainy snapchat video of Linhardt, leaning slightly against the pulleys, head tilted back and dead asleep. A hand came from behind the camera and poked his cheek, which didn’t stir him at all. Felix could hear muffled laughter in the background; it sounded like it might be Ashe.

“That is kind of impressive,” he said.

“I know right. I would say it’s his secret talent but it’s not really a secret. What about you? I still don’t know too much about you. Got any secret talents you’re hiding from us?” she asked as she unclipped the ring of keys from her belt and started spinning them around on her finger.

“Not really,” 

“Well, what do you like to do?”

“Mostly studying and fencing,” he said.

Annette gasped, “You fence? Like with actual swords and stuff?”

“What else would we fence with,” Felix said, and Annette rolled her eyes. “Yes there are swords, but they have a rubber tip, so when it touches your opponent it sends an electronic signal to let the judges know you scored. We usually use chalk in practice though, it leaves a mark on your opponent. The blade isn’t sharp either.”

“That’s so freaking cool, I’ve never met anyone who’s done fencing before. How long have you been doing it?”

Felix had to take a moment to think. He remembered looking up to Glenn, and thinking fencing was the coolest thing. Glenn started when he was ten, so Felix would’ve been five or six. He doesn’t even know if that’s an accurate estimate.

“Eleven or twelve years? To be honest I can’t exactly remember when I started, I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.”

“Wow, that’s a really long time.”

“Well how long have you been singing?”

“Stop bringing that up,” she half heartedly groans, pulling her knees to her chest. “I don’t really sing, I just like to make up little songs. I can’t help it, it’s practically a habit at this point. One time Mr. Eisner caught me singing about Faerghus' heroes. He put a little note on the back of my test about it, saying it was a great study tool. It was so embarrassing.”

Mr. Eisner was a pretty inexpressive teacher, Felix could hardly imagine his reaction. In the two years he had his classes, Felix can’t remember any time he smiled, laughed, or even got angry. The man had a face of stone.

“That does sound embarrassing,” Felix said, not really knowing what to say.

“You are so rude,” she said with a huff. “Is your friend coming?”

“I hope so.” he pulled out his phone.

Sylvain

where are you (4:49)

“Is he anyone in the room?” she asked.

The auditorium had a few stragglers, but none of them had a head of flaming red hair. 

“Nope, he has red hair, although it’s more vibrant than yo-- oh there he is now.”

Sylvain had just appeared from one of the hallways behind the curtain. He stood at the edge of the stage, scanning the room. Felix stood up and halfheartedly raised his arm. Sylvain perked up, when he saw him, and headed towards the two of them.

“Hey, Felix,” Sylvain said, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. “And who might you be,” he said to Annette, a flirty smile already on his face.

“Knock it off, Sylvain. What took you so long anyway?”

“I was just talking with Mrs. Manuela about some things, sorry for taking so long.”

“Hrmph,”

“Oh cool, you take Art History?” Sylvain asked, looking at the cover of Annette’s binder.

“Yea, I take it with Mr. Eisner.”

Felix could see Sylvian immediately drop the flirty act. “I took it with him last year, and he’s like crazy smart in his field too. He showed me some of his papers on Medieval manuscripts, they’re so interesting.”

“Wow you must really like art history. It’s not really my thing, but I really liked that one cathedral, in Adrestia. I can't remember the name but it's the one that influenced the architecture for the new Garreg Mach university.”

“Oh, that must be the Hrym Cathedral."

“I thought he used mostly Faerghus architecture?” Felix asked.

“He did, but he used the Hrym Cathedral for a lot of the central buildings,” said Sylvain. “The Hyrm cathedral style is really a really interesting choice-- ow hey stop it!” Sylvain said as Felix gave him a kick in the shins.

“I’ve already sat through one art history class today, I don’t need another.” Felix muttered.

Annette laughed at the two of them. “I like your enthusiasm for it, it’s really refreshing.”

“You will not believe how enthusiastic he gets about it.” Felix says. “Wakes me up in the middle of the night to show me some stupid frescoes.”

“What can I say, I love some innovations in perspective in ceiling frescos.”

Felix rolled his eyes, and brief awkward silence fell over the group for a moment.

“Well, I better return these keys to Manuela before I leave. I’ll see you next week Felix, it was nice meeting you Sylvain!” Annette said cheerfully, jangling the keys.

“I’ll see you around,” he said to Annette. Sylvain and Felix left the auditorium, heading towards Sylvain’s car in a now empty parking lot.

“I can’t believe you made a friend.”

“Shut up.”

* * *

The weekend passed by too fast. Felix spent most of it working on school work, watching Netflix with Glenn, and wandering over to Sylvain’s room when he was bored. So overall a very typical weekend. 

“When are the results of the audition going to be posted?” Felix asked, scrolling through his phone as Sylvain reorganized his desk.

“Wednesday. To be honest, I’m a little nervous to see the results.”

“If it makes you feel better, there’s no way you’re gonna get the part of a munchkin.”

Sylvain let out a laugh at that. “Thanks, it’s reassuring to hear. Plus, I’m pretty sure my hair would clash with their outfits.”

Despite the offhandedness of the comment, Felix could see Sylvain’s nerves get worse and worse. It started with Sylvain cleaning his already neat room, and then cleaning out the backseat of his car, and he even started rearranging things on Felix’s desk when he came over.

“Leave my shit alone, go organize our spice cabinet if you need to do something.” Felix said as Sylvain moved notebooks around on his desk.

“Sorry, sorry, just need to keep busy.”

“Let me go get Glenn’s switch, we can play some Mario kart, ” Felix said, as he got up from the bed. Sylvain got a little too into Mario Kart, which would be a good thing right now.

He got the switch from its dock downstairs. They set it up on Felix’s pillow, and Sylvain seemed to forget about his worries after a round or two.

It didn’t last long. On their drives to and from school, he was tapping on the wheel, slightly off beat to the song that was playing on the radio. He even drove past the Starbucks on Wednesday morning.

“Hey idiot, you missed the Starbucks,” 

“I don’t really feel like iced coffee today.” 

Sure, Sylvain had his bouts of anxiety, but this seemed to be getting. . .out of hand. It was almost worrying. As Wednesday came, Felix began to feel a sort of apprehension that only grew as the day went on. By the time sixth period rolled around, he was nervous on Sylvain's behalf.

His phone buzzed twice in succession.

Sylvain

(2:09) oh my go dd ess I got an email saying that they psoted the cast list

(2:09) can uou meet m e at the stairs

omw(2:10)

The stairwell was silent and empty when he got there. The noises of the students outside was muffled, and all he could hear was the hum of fluorescent lights. He leaned against the wall, waiting.

Felix scratched his mind, trying to think of something good to say. He tossed his phone in his hands, as if the rhythm would inspire some comforting words. Think Felix, think.

He had nothing to worry about, he hadn’t gotten up and sung in front of four judges waiting to tear your performance apart. Yet, his heart raced a little more than it should’ve. 

Heavy footsteps came down the stairs, and Felix looked up to Sylvain descending rapidly, backpack bouncing wildly on his back. 

“Fuck we had a test today and I completely forgot and I’m pretty sure I bombed the last question--” 

This was bad, this was very bad. He was rambling, and Felix could see his hand fidgeting, shaky with nervous energy. 

“. . .so I can say goodbye to my decent grade in that class. Plus I heard rumors that they cut a lot of people this year and I really can’t do this you’re going to have to go look at the list for me please--”

Felix clamped his hand over Sylvain’s mouth before he even fully thought it out, but it shut Sylvain up. They stood there, under a flickering light, staring at each other. Sylvain looked away.

“Listen to me,” Felix said. It was the only sound in the area, but it was softly spoken. It was just them two, these words meant for Sylvain and Sylvain only. “I need you to shut up for two seconds.” 

Sylvain looked at Felix and Felix looked at Sylvain. He then slowly brought his hand down, trying to grasp at one of the million thoughts ricocheting in his brain.

What could he do. What could he say to make Sylvain realize his worth.

“You need to stop doubting yourself,” Felix said. Sylvain’s gaze immediately darted away again, and Felix tapped his chin to bring his gaze back up. “I’ve heard you sing in the car, you’re a fine singer. You practiced that audition for hours. You did a good audition, you were well prepared. You’re too smart to bomb a test because of one question. Believe in yourself a little bit, you haven’t let anyone down yet and you’re not going to.”

Sylvain let out a breath, and Felix could see a little bit of the tension in his shoulder leave. “Yeah, yeah. . . you’re right. You’re always right, you know that?” he said, his voice still a little shaky.

“Course I am. Now let’s go look at that list before you psych yourself out again.”

By the time they get to the arts building, Sylvain seemed calmer. He followed behind Felix, who marched straight towards the bulletin board with an innocent looking sheet of yellow paper tacked onto it. He stands back as Sylvain makes his way to the paper, leaning in to peer at the tiny text. The racing in Felix’s heart is still present as he looks to Sylvain, waiting for an answer. Sylvain lets out a whoop.

“I got a lead, holy shit I got the scarecrow!” He pulls Felix closer. There it was, in times new roman font:

Scarecrow: Sylvain Gautier

Felix scans the rest of the list, not recognizing the rest of the names. Dorothea had been cast as Dorothy, which Felix was glad to hear. Caspar had been listed as the cowardly lion, and a dude named Lorenz had been cast as the tin man. He didn't catch (or care for) the rest of the names at that moment.

Apprehension flourished into a feeling of releif. “See, I told you. You spent too much energy worrying.” He said with a small smile, nudging Sylvain. 

“You’re totally right, I worried so much for nothing. Let’s go to Molinaro’s to celebrate, I think I deserve some of their sweet buns.”

“If you say so,”

* * *

Molinaro’s seemed different at this time of day. It wasn’t a negative atmosphere, just a lot emptier. There was a businessman eating at a table for two and a food delivery person waiting by the counter. It was a clear day, the sun matching their current moods.

Sylvain ordered his tart, and Felix ordered two servings of the Spicy Fish Dhango, slipping the cashier the money before Sylvain could. He grabbed the table tent and they sat at a table underneath an article announcing Molinaro’s winning Faerghus’s ‘Restaurant of the Year’ award for 1175.

Sylvain’s fingers were flying as he texted everyone the news, so Felix took the time to get their drinks. A water for himself, and a mixture of coke and lemonade for Sylvain.

“Today’s a great day to stop drinking this crap,” Felix said as he put the glasses down on the table. Sylvain set his phone aside face down to take a big sip, making a satisfied ‘aah’.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said as he pushed it towards Felix. “Try it again I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”

Felix grimaced, and Sylvain laughed and took the glass back.

“I will say,” Felix started, “I’m happy you stopped mixing random fountain drinks together.”

“I found some good combinations surprisingly. I gave Dimitri a mixture that was a one third root beer and two thirds raspberry fanta, and he said it was good. Maybe I just have a way with fountain drinks.”

“Wow what a talent,” Felix said with a deadpan tone. “You’d fit right in with the theatre kids you weirdo.”

A worker came by with three plates, “Some sweet buns and two servings of spicy fish dhango?” he said. 

“Yup that’s us, bun is for me, thanks man.” Sylvan said, and the worker placed their plates and cutlery down in front of them. 

“Anyway you can’t say anything about theatre kids, you’re part of it too,” Sylvain said, waving his fork accusatory. 

Felix raised an eyebrow as he bit into his dhango, the flavors bursting on his tongue. It tasted so much better hot and ready.

“Remember when I went out with the chick with the blue hair during sophomore year. I can’t remember her name but it was a crazy color.” Sylvain continued on.

Felix shook his head. A familiar emotion twisted his gut, making him grimace. “I can barely keep up with your current dating endeavors. Don’t expect me to remember stuff that happened two years ago.”

“Well one time I went and ate with her during lunch and they were practically hanging off the catwalk and stuff, I don’t even know how they got up there.”

“Annette showed me to the platform where they work the curtains, but I haven’t seen where the catwalk is,” Felix said before shoving more dhango into his mouth.

“Dude, that’s a lot of dhango, are you sure you can eat it all?”

“I didn’t get it all for myself, figured you were going to try and steal some of it again.” 

“Well don’t mind if I do,” said Sylvain with a broad smile as he stabbed one with his fork and popped it in his mouth. 

For a moment, Felix wished that life would pause. That it would just be him and Sylvain, celebrating their small victories in Molinaro’s at three in the afternoon. The sun would hang at its exact position in the sky, never changing. No one would come or go, it would just be the two of them.

Because Sylvain was happy.

It wasn’t an eureka moment. It wasn’t a revelation that turned Felix’s world on its head. It had been slowly building, like shells being deposited on the shore until he took a step and felt them underneath his feet. He didn’t know how long these feelings had been there, lying dormant in his heart, but they had made their appearance.

If anything the realization was comforting, like he had just woken up, but it still made him pause, fork of dhango halfway to his mouth.

"What's up?" Sylvain said through through a mouthful of food. Felix watched his jaw as he chewed, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." he said as he took a bite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! <3


End file.
